Call for Papers
The complexities and dynamics of social interaction and encounters in neighborhoods
30-31 of January, 2025

University of Tübingen

Neighborhoods are the substructure, the nucleus, of social interactions. Their distinguishing char-acter depends mainly on the viability and extent of the network of social relationships among resi-dents. Thus, the main aim of this conference is to understand how social interactions within the neighborhood are organized and negotiated by its diverse groups. To understand the dynamics of social interaction, we emphasize the role of agency coupled with spatial and temporal processes.
We understand the neighborhood as a fluid, dynamic entity that undergoes continuous changes, constantly responding to the varying conditions of both local and national and transnational, global, and technological developments. Accordingly, results of socioeconomic, legal, and political forces reflected on patterns of migration, urbanization, and (de)industrialization constantly change social interactions within neighborhoods that impact claim-making, negotiation, modes of communication, encountering, and struggle for balance amongst people.
On the other hand, we avoid approaching populations as homogenous and scrutinize heterogeneity among people, such as gender, class, ethnicity, age, and education levels, that impact encounter-ing and sociality within the neighborhood. In addition, we investigate how heterogeneity and changing social dynamics that result from sociopolitical developments impact the sense of belonging, inclusion and exclusion, and conflicts and cohesion among populations.
We seek submissions from scholars, activists, and policymakers whose work addresses the following conceptual, theoretical, and practical questions: What are the factors of social change in the neighborhood? What is the role of agency that shapes social interaction within the neighborhood? How did colonialism transform contemporary neighborhoods? How do people utilize temporal and spatial dynamics to (re)organize neighborhood encounters and sociality? How do migration, international mobility, industrial capitalism, urbanization, and technological developments affect neigh-borhoods? How do neighborhoods resist the changes occasioned by heterogeneity? How do neigh-borhoods communicate with each other? What guarantees cohesion in a neighborhood? And how do neighborhoods deal with conflict and contradictions?
Against this backdrop, the Global Encounters Platform at the University of Tübingen is organizing a two-day international workshop in January 2025 to provide an interdisciplinary platform for aca-demics, researchers, policymakers, activists, and professionals to reevaluate the ways of doing and thinking in the neighborhood. It will sharpen the sociological, anthropological, historical, philosophical, cultural, religious, linguistic, and economic dimensions of the complexities and dynamics of social interaction in neighborhoods considering spatiality, temporality, and the agency of change and resistance.

Possible topics include (but not limited to):

• Theories and approaches to social interaction and encountering in neighborhoods.

• The complexities and politics of belonging and otherness in the neighborhood.

• Nature, factors, and agents of change and resistance within neighborhoods: Change in people, place, interaction system, shared identification, etc.

• Echoes of colonialism in contemporary neighborhoods.

• Impacts of globalization, urbanization, migration, and other sociopolitical developments on neighborhood social interaction.

• International mobility, transnational media, and neighborhoods.

• The role of religion, ideology, economy, and culture in the neighborhood transformation.

• Modes and agencies of reactions and resistance (personal or collective) to heterogeneity.

• Social movements in neighborhoods.

• Crime, Security, policing, and surveillance in the neighborhoods.

• Modes of communication in neighborhoods

• Expansion and contraction of the relationship network in neighborhoods.

• Instruments of cohesion within neighborhoods.

Interested participants are invited to submit a title and abstract of not more than 300 words in English and institutional affiliation to global-encountersspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de by 13 November 2024 (Extended Deadline!).
Limited travel funds may be available for those who lack institutional support. Participants who need partial funding should submit a travel budget.

Please find the call as PDF-File here.